Yotsuya Kaidan
by JeffC FTW
Summary: It is a typical warm and inviting weekend night for a happy young couple sitting before a TV screen when they gather for a movie retelling of one of the most eerie, terrifying ghost stories ever told.


**One of the greatest ghost stories ever told made its way in the form of OTP NaruHina, but nothing mature except in the movie our favorite couple is going to watch. :D The film is "Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan", which was released back in 1959 and is the greatest adaptation of the legend. It really taps into fears and anxieties, broke the grounds by going from nobility to the common class which is us. (cold sweat) Which meant that not only could the wrongdoing upper and middle class be affected and pay for their wrongs, but so could the lowest form.**

 **"Yotsuya Kaidan" tells of Iwa and Iemon Tamiya, with themes of murder, betrayal and ghostly vengeance. A ronin (samurai without a master and utterly disgraced) murders the father of a beautiful girl he desires, and with help of a "friend", the story is covered up so they each could marry the girl, Iwa, and her sister Sode (who was supposed to be with another man, whose father was the guard of the sisters' father), and then part ways so they could exact revenge on the perpetrator. But it does not go according to plan, for poverty creeps up and drives the former samurai to commit more unspeakable acts with tragic consequences.**

 **Now in modern times: Naruto, in this oneshot, brings the movie's attention to his girlfriend who has seen the play with him in youth, so she is in for a world of artistic terror...**

 **Rated for some swearing, gory images (within the movie only) and some underlying suggestive themes.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto or Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan - or any of their characters. Cover image is a picture of the ghost of Iwa (the woman of the tale).**

This movie scared the bejeezus out of him as a child. His mom and dad first saw it when they were young, and before them, Pervy Sage did so with Granny. It was a family tradition as it was amongst many of his friends, because of the morality within the horrors of the tale.

He found himself looking at the cover crawling with the texts in his native language, depicting a scenery with a samurai wielding his sword, another being a bald man cradling a baby...and finally a woman with half her face deformed. If that imagery didn't make him wet his pants as a kid, then it was what was inside that did the job. Which had earned him the talk of the century amongst relatives on his mom's side.

 _Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan_ \- literally "The Ghosts of Yotsuya".

His girlfriend had grown up with the story, even saw the _kabuki_ play when they were kids, but she never saw this movie. At least, not this one. There were many film adaptations, but this was considered the greatest ever. The play changed the lives of everyone who would see it for the first time. Like a great historical figure once said, "the oldest books are still new to those who have not read them." This applied to even film, which visually brought stories to life before your eyes. Being a literary major with Hinata, whom he'd loved for the longest time, Naruto understood personal needs which balanced with many others better than anyone who said he knew nothing. For example, this masterpiece tapped into peoples' fears that the ghosts would come out of the temples and into your sanctuary called home. This went from noble home to the common, all of whom had been in the audience when the play came to. It changed the course of history when it broke records.

It was also on this day that he decided, as soon as night was late and the movie over, he would ask her the one thing he waited a long time for.

She visited his flat in that baby blue dress she wore on their first date when they were teenagers, and even though he was a guy who didn't understand girls' fashions, this was special. The bust accentuating that chest of hers made her curves sexier than before, the flowers beneath it and around the bow in the front giving it a feminine touch, and the fabric hugged her body. And around her neck was a slice of volcanic earth in swirling layers of blue and green. Oh, Hinata never meant to, but she really gave him the good chills.

Sakura was to thank for making him notice her after being in the friend zone long enough. He couldn't owe her enough, but this was also something he had to do on his own, and so did Hinata. She'd even been the one to keep that scarf all these years, which had been torn to shreds by bullies he'd taken on, when they teased her for being a Hyuuga. She was the sweetest, most loving girl he'd ever known, and he was happy to have her.

Naruto was considering asking her to move in with him, but the problem was she still lived with her father despite school being done for them. Hiashi barely spoke to her anymore, so why should she waste her time with him? _It's not like he hates me, either. He doesn't care whom his eldest sees._

But none of that. She was here, long ebony hair now at her shoulders, having it cropped earlier that day, and it was refreshing to see her so carefree that it brought forth the chills. "Naruto, look what I brought." She held up the pink box which she often saved for the sweets she enjoyed baking in her free time. His mouth watered at all the _mochi_ there. There was going to be tooth-rotting tonight! That and the ramen he cooked up for them which wasn't instant for once. He managed to get the recipe himself off the internet and recreate it the way old man Teuchi used to before he died.

And just when it was the two of them as soon as the lights were off, save for one, the flatscreen burst to life with the opening credits amid a _kabuki-_ style performance, a woman chanting in the background, as well as these words which haunted you to your core along with the rumbling drums which emphasized to the dramatic conclusion:

 _"The bond of parent and child lasts through this world, but that of husband and wife lasts forever. How can you kill one who is yours body and soul - who is bound to you for generations to come?"_

"Yes," Hinata whispered to him as the cast came along, but she had to speak fast before they missed anything, "how can one be cruel to murder someone they are bound to from the moment their souls connected, when things get so hard?" She clung to him then and there while taking care to not knock over her ramen bowl. "I can't imagine!"

He could not agree more. She knew enough about this film without everything being spoiled, but it wasn't like she wasn't familiar with the plot which was the same as the play, as foreshadowed by what was cried out next.

 _"I cannot leave this baby, innocent of any sin! O, the fury of a woman maddened is truly like unto...the greatest horror there is."_

"Fury of a woman" referred to the _onryō_ , a wrathful specter who returned to exact harm and death to the living. Their tales began somewhere in the eighth century, and besides killing the living, they could cause natural disasters like wildfires, earthquakes, famine and droughts, as well as many forms of the plague. Most of the stories included women who were wronged in life and targeted their husbands who did the deed, though rarely were the abusive husbands the targets. However, in this case...

The film opened in Okayama on a cold, post-winter solstice night on the grounds of a wealthy samurai named Samon, accompanied by two of his men, when he is confronted by Iemon Tamiya, a ronin, who once more pleaded for the hand in marriage to the daughter Iwa. Samon heatedly refused, resulting in his death by Iemon's hand, and only then did the man realize what he had done, having acted in a heat of desperation and anger. This was when Naosuke, a servant in the Yotsuya household, appeared and concocted a "brilliant" plan to cover the tracks and avoid fingers pointed Iemon's way. Then Iwa and her sister Sode as well as Sode's betrothed Yomoshichi - son of one of the guards - join Iemon and Naosuke in the quest for vengeance, in which the blame was shifted to a known criminal who tried once to rob old man Samon.

"That Naosuke," Hinata said softly, shaking her head when they got to the part when said character made remarks regarding Sode, whom he was obviously sexually obsessed with. "Even now, I still hate him more than I loathe Iemon."

And to get Sode, that meant to get rid of Yomoshichi...and their chance came when they stopped at the site of the Shiraito Falls near the Soga Shrine. To conduct prayer in secrecy, the conspirators left the sisters with each other, and Naosuke was the one to stab Yomoshichi in the back, sending his body falling into the roaring waters below. Excuse was the so-called murderer, Usaburo, had come and done the deed. Hence the decision made was to split up: Sode went with Naosuke, and Iwa with Iemon. The latter pair went away to Edo, where they settled down and married.

Edo, the small fishing village it was, was modern-day Tokyo. Two years went by. However, when the "happy" couple set up a home in the village, it's far from ideal when Iemon eventually tired of his wife, who bore him an infant son and since then became very ill and weak - she believed herself to be a burden and constantly pressed him into taking revenge for her father. Iemon brusquely brushed it off and always rushed to get away from her. It was at this point he was tired of poverty, of doing piecework like making umbrellas...but most of all, he was fed up with Iwa who never did anything wrong to him.

This always made Hinata cry and hold it back. She leaned into Naruto, who wrapped his free arm around her. Their ramen dishes were now done for and settled on the coffee table, but the sight of it made her stand up and take them into the kitchen. He should have done that for her, but she insisted. Sighing, Naruto paused the movie and waited for her. "How are you loving it so far compared to the play?" he called over his shoulder.

"It's just as startling, but it's also different," she answered, coming back in with the box of sweets which had been in the fridge. "In the play, Naosuke was in the brothel trying to advance on Sode, before Yomoshichi and Takuetsu arrived and made such fun of him."

And that was when Takuetsu aforementioned came into the picture when they resumed the film, the light still on for the time being. This guy, bald and somewhat rotund, was the masseur of a brothel, and had a serious infatuation for Iwa. On occasion, Iemon would ask for money to be lent, sometimes pawning something he and his wife owned, and sometimes Naosuke would come in to do so, but as all three men knew - and Naruto himself - money didn't come freely from trees, even though trees were the _sources._ Naosuke himself had been making a living elsewhere by selling elixirs for five pennies, but even that wasn't enough to provide for him and Sode who mourned their circumstances. It also seemed she got luckier than her sister, because her "husband" didn't spite her - although often he would sometimes try to touch her when they agreed none of that until vengeance was theirs.

Naruto remembered when his father and Jiraiya told him that women were to be treated respectfully and not like cattle to be used and traded, though there were guys today who did just that. But not his Hina-chan who was in his arms.

One day, Iemon's fortune might have changed when he ended up saving Ume, the daughter of a wealthy man called Ito. He since then began to work for Ito, doing small deeds, and eventually being accepted as one of the family even if he and the girl weren't married. "Oh!" Hinata fumed, having done most of the talking than he. "The nerve, am I right? He doesn't really love that poor girl; he's only going to use her to gain social prestige, and I know it!" Angrily, she picked up a dumpling stick and brought it to her mouth. She stuffed her face full that it made him laugh at how cute it was.

Naosuke eventually found out, and because rumors were going around town. Takuetsu, who would sometimes come give Iwa massages to make her better, even broke it to her, but she refused to believe such nonsense - until her own husband dropped the hints shamelessly, even as he said he would take a new, richer wife if she was gone. "And what about that kid, huh?" Naruto remembered growling the first time he saw this, hissing through his teeth. His mom, Kushina, even said the same thing and wished she could crawl through the TV screen and punch the daylights off Iemon herself, then hang him and Naosuke by their balls side by side.

That baby...that innocent little boy was suffering for something that wasn't his fault, unaware of the troubles around him, but sensing the anguish of his mother whenever his father was around only to raise his voice.

Things had now taken a turn for the worst when Naosuke brought the latest scheme to Iemon's attention, far "better" than in Okayama: if he wanted to marry Ume, he had to first kill Iwa if he couldn't be man enough to divorce her. Now, in the play, he planned to set her up for rape by Takuetsu - as grounds to legally divorce - but this was due to a scheme which was Ume and her family having Iwa disfigured by using a poisoned facial cream...and the effects were devastating, leaving her scarred in one half of her face. _All to make Iemon see Iwa as unattractive compared to Ume._ And when Takuetsu came along, he was unable to do the abominable act, but he did freak out when he saw Iwa's deformed face and showed it to her in a mirror. This sent her off the edge, and so she picked up a sword and ran, but before she could get away, she ended up stabbing herself in the throat.

This time, Iemon did the setup by himself with Naosuke's help, and he hired Takuetsu to simply seduce her, so that he could kill the both of them as it was the law to slay both the adulterous samurai wife and her lover. But as he was brewing the poison which acted as an "herbal tea", he gave his ailing wife a new gift as a gesture of kindness and with the need to forget about the past. "Oh, like hell, you two-faced bastard!" Naruto spat, then coughed as he nearly choked on the rice cake in his mouth. He felt Hinata's hand on his back, helping him out in time for Takuetsu to come and join Iwa. So, Iemon left them alone for the time being, his scheme in place.

Now was his cue to turn off the light, but not before he felt the middle of his abdomen clench, telling him a call from nature was in order. That meant he had to leave Hinata here. For a moment, he considered leaving the movie on for her to be in the dark and seeing the GOOD part they all knew well, but that would be mean. This moment, accompanied by score and building up, was the most frightening but greatest scene ever.

Coming back, Naruto was surprised to see Hinata actually playing and _watching_ the part. And it was precise perfect timing when Iwa saw her face in the mirror and started screaming, repeatedly asking if this woman - no, this _monster_ \- was her.

What she did next was _extremely_ disturbing, enough to make you want to throw up the food you had just eaten, and that was pick up her mother's tortoise comb and try to brush back her messy hair, only to tear thick strands off as well as bits of flesh, so dark blood was seen. Traditionally in _kabuki_ stage, combing the hair was a symbolism of eroticism whereas other parts of the body were far too sensitive to be seen.

She then proceeded to go hysterical, accusing Takuetsu of doing this to her, even after he said her husband set this all up just so he could marry Ume. She then picked up a small blade and ended up doing to herself what she did in the play, but unlike before, she tried to kill Takuetsu for his involvement - and ended up stabbing herself. Dying, she flailed about until she heard the sound of her baby boy crying. Taking the wailing infant into her arms, Iwa howled in pain, heartbreak...and ultimate rage and hatred.

 _"Oh, hateful Iemon! How could you be so cruel to one who never sinned against you?!"_

His beautiful girl squeezed her eyes shut as she buried her face into his shoulder for only a second before she returned her opalescent gaze back to the screen in time to see the agonized mother looking upon the face of the child in her arms.

 _"You poor child, how could I leave you to a man like that? Die with your mother! I could never enter paradise if I left you behind..."_

 _Just like that: a good mother spares her child a terrible fate that is leaving him with that beast of a father. Someone who was supposed to love and protect them both, yet he only cared about himself...but it's also been that Naosuke's cunning._

Iwa's final words of damnation were the last nail to the coffin: _"Iemon, you heartless and cold-blooded brute - DO YOU THINK I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS DEBT UNPAID?!"_

And just like that, with the final roll of the drums, she collapsed forward, taking her young son with her in death.

Hinata clung to Naruto the entire time, the box of desserts left on the table for this, and the tension was as it was when they were kids as they saw this iconic scene on the stage. Even the lights off added to the right amount of atmosphere as the drums ended. You could still hear them echo even when it was over.

"My God," she whispered, and a tear fell down her cheek. It was just as powerful an impact today as it was then. And now the fun really began.

Iemon believed Takuetsu's words when the masseur whom he owed money to - and promised to reward, but it was so much more just to save his own neck - didn't do anything to Iwa, now dead, but he did kill the man. First he cut off one arm and then stabbed repeatedly. When that Naosuke appeared again, he and Iemon nailed both the bodies to a shutter on either side and then tossed them into the river. All done in time for Iemon to head off to marry Ume on that same night, to finally secure his future.

Little did the poor bastard know was that he was going to get his in the worst way possible.

Meanwhile, Naosuke found the criminal he framed for the murders of Iwa and Sode's father as well as Yomoshichi's, and so he and Sode were man and wife now that "revenge" was solidified.

"This is it," Hinata said happily, but with a small hint of anxiety since they both knew what IT was. It was the wedding night of Iemon and Ume...but it was when the spirit of Iwa appeared, her presence making the audience jump with terror at the sight of her ruined face and nailed carcass on the shutter as well as at the sound of the drums and screeching of an unknown thing in the background.

Her voice became shrill and sorrowful: _"Iemon...how could you give me poison to drink? What did I ever do to wrong you? I will visit my hatred on you. Be sure of that..."_

She continued to follow him even as he and his new bride settled in that night. And how funny was it that Naosuke also was haunted, but not in the same way as his cohort? Naruto and Hinata snickered at that. It settled down when Iemon really paid the price as Iwa continued to call him out and appear before his eyes.

And each time he stabbed her, he thought she really was there - and Takuetsu started appearing - he ended up killing his new wife, her maidservant, and even his father-in-law. Leaving him with NOTHING and no one to back his story even if he could think of one. Iwa didn't mess around when she said she was inflicting her hatred on him, and that was by tricking him into murdering his new family, costing him the position he desired.

Iemon Tamiya's true descent into madness was just beginning.

He fled to the Hebi Mountain in Honjo, which was infested with snakes - his dead wife's symbol of birth. He stayed there for some time, hoping sacred grounds would keep him safe from the ghosts, until one day he decided he needed a break, and ran into Naosuke who was fishing for eels - and had found a tortoise comb and kimono in the water, not knowing they were Iwa's - but when he left, Iemon ended up seeing the spirits once more.

The corpses on shutters rising from the river, now dark and bloodied, lightning flashing as well as thunder cracking to intensify the atmosphere - Iwa swore to end the blood spilled in his name, and Takuetsu demanded that he be paid which was owed.

Elsewhere, Naosuke brought home the comb and kimono, which Sode recognized as belonging to her sister, but at first he disagreed in a feeble attempt to clear himself - but she also revealed she heard of two bodies, a man and woman, found in the Mannen River Bridge, both nailed on a shutter. That was when he broke down and started raving his confession about the true murders of her father and Yomoshichi's, that Iemon did the deed, and then he and Naosuke both slayed him and left him in the waterfall. He then told her where the villainous Iemon was now before fleeing for his life while screaming for forgiveness.

It turned out that _Yomoshichi_ was still alive and well, having stayed at an inn which Sode ended up after having a vision of her sister, and he'd had one himself. He told her he was greatly injured before a woodcutter pulled him from the water, and then he arrived at Edo to heal and rest. Sode then told him Iemon and Naosuke killed their fathers, and likely Iwa as well. Thus they teamed up for revenge against Iemon as he was the one to start all of it. "About damned time, huh?" Naruto asked cheekily.

"Yes, about time," Hinata answered brightly.

Naosuke and Iemon met one more time at the Snake Mountain temple, where the former sneered that they were both equally guilty vermin, that the old man Ito could have had money which Iemon never once took out of the house. It was then that he taunted his former partner to kill him if he wanted to - but it seemed he never counted on Iemon to actually go through with it.

The nightmarish visions of Iwa and her operatic voice returned then and there, at the same time Yomoshichi and Sode arrived to challenge him to the death for his crimes. A two-against-one ensued, but the ones who really had the upper hand were the ghosts themselves. Which made it easier for Sode and Yomoshichi to stab Iemon...and he died on the river bank, begging forgiveness from the wife he wronged. But Iwa never said the words, and it didn't seem like she ever would, which was no less than he deserved.

The movie ended with a ghostly image of a healed Iwa cradling the baby in her arms, at peace but cold as ice because she had been cruelly mistreated. The moon shone behind her and mist engulfed her form eerily.

Hinata gasped at this masterpiece which they enjoyed on this first weekend night. In his arms and protected. "That...was...amazing." Just what he said the first time.

Now, from the moment Iwa died, the events of the play differed more or less than in here. After Iemon killed his bride and in-law, the rest of the household followed, including Oyumi the mother and her servant, the former kicked by Iemon into the canal and the servant accidentally drowning. Afterwards, Naosuke arrived and blackmailed Iemon to give a valuable document. Some time later, he was trying to get Sode into bed with him since they were man and wife, and just as she was about to, Yomoshichi arrived to accuse her of cheating on him, and this threw her into despair and shame, begging to be killed by them both - but not before leaving a letter which revealed she was really the _younger sister of Naosuke._ This definitely broke him down and took his own life out of shame.

The play ended ultimately with Iemon, who was ever haunted by Iwa, and he could no longer tell fantasy from reality. His death was at the hands of none other than Yomoshichi, as was expected of a classical tragedy like this one.

"Naruto, this is...this is the most beautiful thing I ever saw. I think I would see it again if I wanted to!" Then her face fell. "But I can still never get over why a man would be so selfish to do such a thing to the woman he was sworn to remain with for eternity. It shows how low a human can sink even if they are a good person!" she said, lines tightening now.

Which was exactly what brought him to get right to what he wanted to do all night. It was as good as any night. And it was what his dad helped him with, all that helpful advice about to pay off. "That brings me to something, Hinata, and since you know me well enough to know that I would never do such things to you. Although if your father would try and come between us, that means I get to rip his throat out with my teeth if I have to." And he would, too. The declaration made her eyes widen, and they grew wider when he reached into his pocket to pull out the small black velvet bag which had a piece fit for a princess.

"Oh, Naruto, you shouldn't say such things, really! And you waited until tonight just for this?!"

Within yellow gold was a cluster of three small diamonds on either side of a large round one, all of it more sparkle in light than it really appeared. He spent two years saving up on this thing, because the moment he saw it, he knew it was perfect for his rare pearl. Hinata was a treasure a guy never got every day. Even if he did, he didn't appreciate it until it was too late.

"Hinata Hyuuga, I love you so much that I don't know how to explain it. But I've known you for a long time to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, only if you still want to have me -" Ugh, why was he sputtering like a stupid schoolboy again?

But her answer was an excited yes as well as a throw of her arms around his shoulders. He was so happy he was laughing and falling off the couch with her. But not before he got that ring around her finger which she couldn't wait to show everyone.

 **"The oldest books are still new to those who have not read them" - Samuel Butler**

 **If anyone wants to watch the movie, it is on YouTube under the title in these words: "Nobuo Nakagawa - Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan 1959 VOS". PREPARE FOR CHILLS. Oh, and it's best to enjoy at night with a hot cup of tea and a bowl of soup, or anything of your choosing as long as it is light.**

 **So this was made just for fun, no real major story intended. Review but don't flame. :D**


End file.
